Japan may hand over patrol planes to PH – sources

MANILA – With the rising tensions in the South China Sea, sources claimed that Japan has been considering giving patrol planes to the Philippines which they can use for surveillance in the disputed territories.

The Beechcraft TC-90 King Air planes, which Japan has been planning to hand over, could carry an air surveillance radar. Preliminary talks regarding the matter have already begun.

“The Philippines doesn’t have enough aircraft to conduct regular patrols over the South China Sea,” said one of the sources, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to talk about the matter.

Japan, however, has not yet formally presented the planes as it was still checking if giving the planes would not violate any law. Senior Philippine military and defense officials, for their part, have confirmed not hearing proposals from Japan yet.

It can be noted that the Southeast Asian country earlier requested for Lockheed Martin P3-C aircrafts which they were supposed to use for tracking maritime activity in the contested waters.